General Knowledge Quiz - By Zarbo84 The fictional character John Clayton is better known by what name? La Paz is the administrative capital of which South American country? Actor Charles Buchinsky was better known by what name? The medical condition ‘aphonia’ is the inability to do what? In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was the king of which Island? Who played the title role in the 1953 film ‘The Glenn Miller Story’? A third wedding anniversary is traditionally represented by which material? In the Bible, what sign did God give Noah that the earth would not be flooded again? In August 2011 NASA announced that photographic evidence had been captured of possible liquid water of which planet in our solar system? The restored tomb of which dramatist was unveiled in Paris in November 2011, after being ruined by lipstick smears left by thousands of kisses? What was the name of the hurricane which hit the East Coast of America in August 2011? On 11th March 2011 a 9.1 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of which country? Convict George Joseph Smith was known as the ‘Brides in the ‘what’ murderer’?

In the human body, Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis is commonly known by what name? A peregrine is what type of bird? What is the name of the highly toxic protein obtained from the pressed seeds of the castor oil plant? Which British pop musician/actor was actress Sadie Frost’s first husband? British singer Gaynor Hopkins is better known by what name? Who played Ron Kovic in the 1989 film ‘Born on the Fourth of July’? Ben Gurion International Airport is in which country? Which basketball star is kidnapped by cartoon characters in the 1996 film ‘Space Jam’? In the tv series The A Team, what does B.A. stand for in the name B.A. Baracus? In medicine, metritis is the inflammation of which part of the body? In which year was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in the USA? In the human body, where is the atrium? The OK Corral is in which US town? In Greek mythology, Amphitrite, queen of the sea, was the wife of which god? Which British boxer bought one of the original ‘Only Fools and Horses’ Reliant Robins in 2004?

Actor Roy Harold Scherer was better known by what name? Anna Gordy was the first wife of which late soul singer? Who played Heinrich Himmler in the 1976 film ‘The Eagle Has Landed’? Which is the fastest rotating planet in our solar system? Which country was invaded by Iraq in 1990? Cobalt, Cyan and Cerulean are shades of which colour? In 1936, Joseph Bowers was the first inmate to attempt an escape from which prison? In the 18th Century, the British Royal Navy ordered limes and lemons to be carried on board ships as a remedy for which disease? In which US state were the 1692 Witch Trials held? Question Who was the father of English monarch Edward VI? Vermicide is a substance used for killing which creatures? Miss Gatsby and Miss Tibbs were two elderly residents in which UK tv sitcom? Who was US actor Mickey Rooney’s first wife? The resort town of Sliema is on which Mediterranean island? In the Bible, what is the Decalogue more commonly known as? In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the god of what?

Which real-life couple starred in the 1994 remake of the film ‘The Getaway’? American 1940′s murder victim Elizabeth Short was known by what posthumous nickname? British monarch Henry VIII married which of his wives in 1540? In February 1983 which US writer choked to death on the cap from a bottle of eye drops? Which US gangster was released from Alcatraz prison in November 1939? Who built the Roman wall which divided England and Scotland? In the human body, the hallux is more commonly known by what name? The liqueur Maraschino is flavoured with which fruit? Which famous US outlaw shot the cashier of a savings bank in Gallatin Missouri in 1869? Kathmandu is the capital of which country? TAP is the chief airline of which European country? In November 2002, which member of the British royal family was convicted and fined for violating the Dangerous Dogs Act? Tommy Lee plays which instrument in the band Motley Crue? The Wang River is in which Asian country? Who played Danny Ocean in the 1960 film ‘Ocean’s Eleven’?

In which US state was the late singer Michael Jackson born? According to the Bible, what was the first bird to be sent out of the Ark by Noah? Which famous racehorse is buried next to the finishing post of the Aintree Racecourse? Winston Churchill’s tribute ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’, was paid to which of the UK’s armed forces? The company Starbucks is reportedly named after a character in which novel? What was the name of the 42 year old African-American who became famous for refusing to give her seat up to a white bus passenger in Alabama in 1955? In 1954, which British athlete broke the Four Minute Mile? Which film, starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, was released in June 1956? The infamous Insein Prison is in which Asian country? Which heavyweight boxing champion retired in April 1956 without losing a professional boxing match? Who played Davy Crockett in the 1960 film ‘The Alamo’? ‘Better to die than be a coward’ is the motto of which British Army regiment? An apple seed contains which poisonous substance?

In which English city was the UK tv soap ‘Albion Market’ set? In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, was assassinated in which Bosnian province? Question 1000+ images about The Black Dahlia Murder Crime Scene on Pinterest | Short a, The black and True stories The Black Dahlia. (before and after death) The tragic murder and death of a young starlet wannabe Elizabeth Short known as "The Black Dahlia" Will her murder ever be solved so that she may Rest in peace?! See More ELIZABETH SHORT --THE BLACK DAHLIA Click Here to Order the Book! Beth in Hollywood In Hollywood, Beth loved to socialize, loved the Hollywood nightlife and loved to meet men. One of the men who befriended Beth was Mark Hansen, a nightclub and theater owner who knew many important show business people. He eventually moved her into his house, along with a number of other young actresses who roomed there and who entertained guests at Hansenï¿½s clubs. On any given day, a visitor to Hansenï¿½s house could find a number of beautiful actresses and models sunning themselves by the swimming pool.

Beth soon became a part of this group, although her prospects for film work remained non-existent. She didnï¿½t have much of an income and only seemed to eat and drink when others, usually her dates, were buying. She shared rooms with other people and borrowed money from her friends constantly, never paying it back. She never seemed to appreciate the hospitality given to her by others either, rarely contributing anything to where she was living and staying out most of the night and sleeping all day. She became known as a beautiful freeloader. Around this same time, the film THE BLUE DAHLIA, starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd was released. Some friends of Bethï¿½s started calling her the "Black Dahlia", thanks to her dark hair and back lacy clothing. The name stuck and Beth began to immerse herself into the glamorous persona that she had created -- and that may have led to her death. Although she is remembered today as the "Black Dahlia", Elizabeth Short did not start out as a sexy vamp that "haunted" the nightclubs of Hollywood. She was born on July 29, 1924 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.

Her parents, Cleo and Phoebe Short, moved the family to Medford, a few miles outside of Boston, shortly after Elizabeth was born. Cleo Short was a man ahead of his time, making a prosperous living designing and building miniature golf courses. Unfortunately though, the Depression caught up with him in 1929 and he fell on hard times. Without a second thought, he abandoned his wife and five daughters and faked his suicide. His empty car was discovered near a bridge and the authorities believed that he had jumped into the river below. Phoebe was left to deal with the bankruptcy and to raise the girls by herself. She worked several jobs, including as a bookkeeper and a clerk in a bakery shop, but most of the money came from public assistance. One day, she received a letter from Cleo, who was now living in California. He apologized for running out on his family and asked to come home. Phoebe refused his apology and would not allow him to come back. Beth (known as Betty to her family and friends) grew up to be a very pretty girl, always looking older and acting more sophisticated then she really was.

Everyone who knew her liked her and although she had serious problems with asthma, she was considered very bright and lively. She was also fascinated by the movies, which was her familyï¿½s main source of affordable entertainment. She found an escape at the theater that she couldnï¿½t find in the day to day drudgery of ordinary life. While she was growing up, Betty remained in touch with her father (once she knew that he was actually alive). They wrote letters back and forth and when she was older, he offered to have her come out to California and stay with him until she was able to find a job. Betty had worked in restaurants and movie houses in the past but she knew that if she went to California, she wanted to be a star. She packed up and headed out west to her father. At that time, Cleo was living in Vallejo and working at the Mare Island Naval Base. Betty hadnï¿½t been in town for long before the relationship between she and her father became strained. He began to launch into tirades about her laziness, poor housekeeping and dating habits. Eventually, he threw her out and Betty (now Beth) was left to fend for herself.

Undaunted, she went to Camp Cooke and applied for a job as a cashier at the Post Exchange. It didnï¿½t take long for the servicemen to notice the new cashier and she won the title of "Camp Cutie of Camp Cooke" in a beauty contest. They didnï¿½t realize that the sweet romantic girl was emotionally vulnerable and was desperate to marry a handsome serviceman, preferably a pilot. She made no secret of wanting a permanent relationship with one of the men with whom she constantly flirted. The word soon got around that Beth was not an easy girl and pressure for more than just hand-holding kept Beth at home most nights. Several encounters made her uncomfortable at Camp Cooke and she left to stay with a girlfriend who lived near Santa Barbara. During this time, Beth had her only run-in with the law. A group of friends that she was out with got rowdy in a restaurant and the owners called the police. Since Beth was underage, she was booked and fingerprinted, but never charged. A kind policewoman felt sorry for her and arranged for a trip back to Massachusetts. After spending some time at home, she came back to California, this time to Hollywood.

Back in LA, Beth met a pilot named Lieutenant Gordon Fickling and fell in love. He was exactly what she was looking for and she began making plans to ensnare him in matrimony. Unfortunately though, her plans were cut short when Fickling was shipped out to Europe. Beth then took a few modeling jobs but discouraged, she went back east. She spent the holidays in Medford and then went to Miami, where she had relatives with whom she could live for awhile. Beth began dating servicemen, always with marriage as her goal, but fell in love again with a pilot, Major Matt Gordon. A commitment was apparently made between them after he was sent to India. Sadly, Gordon was killed in action, once again destroying Beth's dreams. Gordonï¿½s death left Beth a little unbalanced. After a period of mourning in which she spent telling people that she and Matt had been married and that their baby had died in childbirth, she began to pick up the pieces of her old life and started contacting her Hollywood friends. One of those was former boyfriend Gordon Fickling, who Beth saw as a possible replacement for her dead fiancï¿½e.

They began to write back and forth to one another and then got together briefly in Chicago when he was in town for a couple of days. Soon, Beth was in love with him again. She agreed to come to Long Beach and be with him, happy and excited once again. A short time later, Beth was back in California. In December 1946, Beth took up "temporary" residence in San Diego with a young woman named Dorothy French. She was a counter girl at the Aztec Theater, which stayed open all night, and after an evening show, she found Beth sleeping in one of the seats. Beth told her that she had left Hollywood because work was hard to find due to the actorï¿½s strikes that were going on. Dorothy felt sorry for her and offered her a place to stay at her motherï¿½s home. She meant that Beth could stay for a few days, but she ended up sleeping on the Frenchï¿½s couch for more than a month. As usual, she did nothing to contribute to the household and she continued her late-night partying and dating. One of the men she dated was Robert "Red" Manley, a salesman from L.A.

with a pregnant young wife at home. He admitted being attracted to Beth, but never claimed to have slept with her. They saw each other on an off for a few weeks and then Beth asked him for a ride back to Hollywood. He agreed and on January 8 picked her up from the French house and paid for a hotel room for her that night. They went out together to a couple of different nightspots and returned back to the motel. He slept on the bed, while Beth, complaining that she didnï¿½t feel well, slept in a chair. Red had a morning appointment but came back to pick her up around noon. She told him that she was going back home to Boston but first she was going to meet her married sister at the Biltmore Hotel in Hollywood. Manley drove her back to Los Angeles. He had an appointment at the home of his employer that evening at 6:30, so he didnï¿½t wait around for Bethï¿½s sister to arrive. She was making phone calls in the hotel lobby when he saw her last -- becoming, along with the hotel employees, the last person to see Beth Short alive. As far as the police could discover, only the killer ever saw her after that.

She vanished for six days from the Biltmore before her body was found in the empty lot. A dramatic newspaper photo of Robert "Red" Manley. He later became a suspect in Beth's murder but was eventually cleared. The investigation into the Black Dahliaï¿½s murder was the highest profile crime in Hollywood of the 1940ï¿½s. The police were constantly harassed by the newspapers and the public for results. Hundreds of suspects were questioned. Because it was considered a sex crime, the usual suspects and perverts were rounded up and interrogated. Bethï¿½s friends and acquaintances were questioned as the detectives tried to reconstruct her final days and hours. Every lead that seemed hopeful ended up leading nowhere and the cops were further hampered by the lunatics and crazed confessions that were still pouring in. People everywhere were talking about the "Black Dahlia" murder As the investigators traced Bethï¿½s activities, they discovered their strongest suspect, Red Manley. He became the chief target of the investigation. The LAPD put him through grueling interrogations and even administered two different polygraph tests, both of which he passed.

He was released a couple of days later but the strain on him was so great that he later suffered a nervous breakdown. While the police worked frantically, Bethï¿½s mother made the trip to Los Angeles to claim her daughterï¿½s body. Her father, who had not seen her since 1943, refused to identify her. Sadly, Phoebe Short had learned of her daughterï¿½s death from a newspaper reporter who had called her, using the pretext that Beth had won a beauty contest and the paper wanted some background information about her. Once he had gleaned as much information as he could, he informed her that Beth had actually been murdered. A few days after Bethï¿½s body was found, a mysterious package appeared at the offices of the Los Angeles ï¿½Examinerï¿½. A note that had been cut and pasted from newspaper lettering said "Here is the Dahliaï¿½s Belongings.... Letter to Follow". Inside of the small package was Bethï¿½s social security card, birth certificate, photographs with various servicemen, business cards and claim checks for suitcases she had left at the bus depot.

Another item was an address book that belonged to club owner Mark Hansen. The address book had several pages torn out. The police attempted to lift fingerprints off the items but found that all of it had been washed in gasoline to remove any trace of evidence. The detectives then began the overwhelming task of tracking down everyone in the address book and while Mark Hansen and a few others were singled out for interrogation, nothing ever came of it. In addition, the promised "letters to follow" arrived but contained no solid clues One of the letters received by the newspaper To date, the Black Dahlia murder has never been solved. Over the years, though, many suspects have emerged, along with a number of false confessions and ridiculous stories and theories. Because of the lurid and mysterious nature of the crime, it seems to be one of those sorts of cases that everyone has an opinion about. In addition, the initial investigation of the case revealed a number of suspects that all eventually played out over time. There have been some interesting theories within the police department to the possibility that the killer was the same culprit in the Cleveland Torso Murders a few years before.

During the original investigation, investigators ran across a number of leads and questioned many suspects, including nightclub owner Mark Hansen and Red Manley, who were later cleared. Red simply had the bad luck to get involved with a woman who turned out to be as complex as Beth -- and who ended up dead. Manley was given the "third degree" at police headquarters and only released after a polygraph test. He was exonerated but the case never really ended for him. Suspicion and mental problems plagued him for the rest of his life and in 1954, his wife had him committed to the Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino. Reporter Will Fowler would later state that the case "destroyed their life." There were also many anonymous calls that turned up, including one that stated that Beth's killers had been two police officers and many false confessions. In at least three cases, landlords reported "suspicious behavior" on the part of tenants they were trying to evict and a woman in Barstow, California gave false information in hopes of getting back at two old boyfriends who had jilted her. Other time-wasting confessions included a pharmacist who told police that he "knew how to cut a body in half".

He initially claimed to have killed Beth but later admitted that he "was kidding". A woman also confessed that Beth had stolen her boyfriend, so she had killed her. When she was unable to pick her out of a photo array however, it was confirmed that she had made the whole thing up. One, more promising, lead involved an Army corporal and combat veteran named Joseph Dumais. He was reported to the military police by another soldier, who had argued with Dumais over money. After a 42-day furlough, the corporal was found with blood all over his clothing and a stack of newspaper clippings about the murder. He had little memory of what he may have done during his furlough. He told investigators: "It is possible that I could have committed the murder. When I get drunk I get rough with women." Dumais was sent to a psychiatrist but was cleared of killing Beth. Interest in the case continued for years and it has appeared in many books and periodicals over time.

However, it was really not until 1987 (the 40th anniversary of the murder) and the release of James Ellroy's excellent novel about the murder, The Black Dahlia, that interest in the case was revived and the quest for the killer of Beth Short was renewed. Since that time, many theories have been created and new books have appeared on the market -- each, of course, claiming to have the case solved. Much of the research that has been done, notably by writers like John Gilmore and Larry Harnisch, has been thorough and compelling, but others fall far short in making a convincing case for a solution. So, who killed the Black Dahlia? Author and former head of the FBI's behavioral sciences unit, John Douglas, had his own theories, based on his own past experiences profiling serial and dangerous killers. After reviewing the coroner's inquest, autopsy files and cases records, Douglas described Beth's killer as a white man, no younger than his late 20's and possibly older, with a high school education. He lived alone, worked with his hands and was comfortable with a knife and blood, like a butcher or slaughterhouse worker.

He was also familiar with prostitutes and was compulsive, patient and deliberate. He was also a heavy drinker and under financial stress. He spent several days with the victim and, when drunk, let his personal stress and the alcohol combine into a murderous rage. He cut Beth's body in half to make transportation easier but also chose mutilation to make a personal statement about the rage that he felt towards her. Severing the body both dehumanized and defemininized her. Douglas also believed that the killer chose the dump site for a reason, as in a personal connection to the neighborhood, perhaps because of some financial setback caused by the fact that the construction in the area was halted because of the war. Douglas believes that if the murder had been committed today, it would have been solved. He states that the killer would have given himself away by his behavior after the crime, when he sobered up. He also theorized that he might have become paranoid, fearing that he had left some clue behind, and would have become obsessed with the case, reading all of the newspaper coverage of it and collecting clippings.

It's also likely that he would have kept some souvenir of the crime and when he became convinced that he would not be found out, he might taunt the police and newspapers with knowledge he had that no one else did. This might explain the letters and the items of Beth's that were mailed to the newspapers. But why no other killings? Douglas believed that perhaps the killer was never under the same sort of stress again or perhaps he died. Most likely though, is that the murderer destroyed himself or was committed to a mental institution. Or perhaps simply faded into obscurity, sure that he would never be caught. And while Douglas created a credible personality of the killer, there have been other claims made as well. The case was first analyzed by author Leslie Charteris, the creator of "The Saint", who wrote about the case just three weeks after it occurred -- but there have been many to follow. The story was written up by Jack Webb, creator of "Dragnet", in his book The Badge, in Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon series and in Will Fowler's The Reporters. The story has also appeared in countless books on unsolved mysteries and true crimes and there are entire websites devoted to Beth and her murder.

Two relatively recent entries to try and solve the Black Dahlia murder include Black Dahlia Avenger and Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer, in which both writers blame their deceased fathers for the crime. The 1995 book by Janice Knowlton and respected crime author Michael Newton, Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer, was written after repressed memories surfaced for Knowlton. As an alleged victim of incest and child abuse, he kept her memories of her life with father -- and the murder of "Aunt Betty" -- below the surface for years. The book presents several well-known facts about the case but there is nothing to substantiate the story that her father was the killer other than the author's claims. Black Dahlia Avenger is unfortunately just as flawed. This book had many excited when it learned that the author, Steve Hodel, was a veteran police detective but his initial evidence in the case turned out to be some photographs that he found in his late father's estate that he believed were of Elizabeth Short. I wish that I could say that I thought the photos were genuine but I can't.

The book is a well-written and well-researched investigation into the past of Hodel's father -- and his likely crimes -- but I don't think it a presents a great case that his father killed Beth Short. Some of the best-researched theories into the crime have been done by authors Donald Wolfe, John Gilmore and Larry Harnisch. Gilmore is the author of the bo0k Severed and Gilmore spent years writing and researching the story. There is also compelling research that has also been done by reporter Larry Harnisch into this case. Using John Douglas' profile of the killer, Harnisch has managed to track down not only a suspect who fits it but a doctor who lived in the neighborhood where Beth's body was found but who also had a connection to Beth's sister and by extension, to Beth herself. To this date, Harnisch has not published a book on the case but you can read more about his theories and information on his website . My favorite entry into Black Dahlia books and theories was written by Donald Wolfe, The Black Dahlia Files. He offers what I feel is perhaps the most compelling theory behind who killed Beth Short.

In 2013, I penned my own book on the case, Fallen Angel, and while I do not claim to be an expert on it, I have tried to take a common sense approach about the many theories that are out there and try to boil them down to what I feel is the most credible version of events that occurred both before and after Beth Short's murder. You can see more about the book here. But no matter the number of theories, books and documentaries on the case, to this date it remains unsolved. No matter who considers themselves an expert on the case and who does not, the truth is that no one was ever charged for the murder of Elizabeth Short and, as far as we know, her death has never been avenged. She remains an elusive mystery from the dark side of Hollywood -- and the even darker side of the American landscape.

Black Dahlia Murder Case Hits 68 Years Unsolved Black Dahlia Murder Case Hits 68 Years Unsolved SHARE Archive Photos / Getty Images Evidence concerning the murder of American aspiring actress and murder victim Elizabeth Short (1924 - 1947), known as the 'Black Dahlia,' is strown across a table at the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in 1947. Jan. 15, 1947: The mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short are found in Los Angeles. Her murder remains unsolved There’s never been a shortage of suspects in the Black Dahlia murder — but police have never been able to pin the crime on any of them. After the mutilated body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short — cut in half at the waist and drained of blood — was found in a vacant Los Angeles lot on this day, Jan. 15, in 1947, dozens of people confessed to killing the woman who newspapers dubbed “the Black Dahlia.” It became the most sensational murder story in a city rife with sensational murders, and fame-seekers all over town wanted to play a part.

Over the years, the number of people claiming responsibility grew to hundreds, most of whom detectives ruled out almost immediately. One promising admission came a few weeks after the murder, from an Army corporal who said he had been drinking with Short in San Francisco a few days before her body was discovered — then blacked out, with no memory of his activity until he came to again in a cab outside New York’s Penn Station. (Short, an aspiring movie star, had a fondness for servicemen, according to The Black Dahlia , the James Ellroy novel based on her murder.) Asked if he thought he had committed the murder, the corporal said yes, and became a prime suspect until evidence emerged that he had actually been on his military base the day of Short’s death. Then there was the woman who became convinced — in 1991, after therapy chipped away at 40-year-old repressed memories — that her late father was the murderer . Police dug up the yard of her childhood home, where she believed they’d find his weapons or the remains of other victims. They did find a rusty knife, farm tools, and costume jewelry — but no evidence to tie him to the Black Dahlia case or any other murders.

Most recently, retired detective Steve Hodel landed on a suspect he believes is unquestionably the killer: his own father, the late doctor George Hodel. Soil samples taken from the doctor’s Hollywood estate in 2012 tested positive for the chemical markers for human decomposition, meaning other bodies may have been buried there . The younger Hodel’s suspicions were raised when he found pictures of a woman he believed was the Black Dahlia among his father’s possessions; furthermore, he says the surgical accuracy with which she was cut in half and disemboweled suggests a killer with medical training — like George Hodel, who died in 1999. While the LAPD had long considered Hodel a suspect, they’re not ready to call him the killer. According to a CBS News report that aired in 2004, George Hodel was just one among their 22 viable suspects in the Black Dahlia murder — seven of whom were doctors. In 2006, the case inspired a movie starring Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank and Mia Kirshner, as Elizabeth Short.

“The likelihood is that this was one of those dreadful crimes that emerge from the psychopathic minds and was in no way motivated by general social conditions or, indeed, by anything—other than perhaps a chance encounter—that was deeply woven into poor Betty Short’s brief, sad, agonizingly ended life,” noted critic Richard Schickel. “In that sense it is both the perfect crime and the perfect subject for realistically rendered, but fantastically imagined crime fictions.” Read TIME’s 2006 review of the movie based on the case: The Black Dahlia 1000+ images about black dahlia on Pinterest | Glasgow smile, Murder scenes and Black dahlia Forward The Murder of Elizabeth Short, better known as The Black Dahlia. The murder is famous for not only being brutal (she was cut in half at the waist, and had her face carved ear to ear in a manner that's commonly known as a the glasgow smile) He Murder has never been solved, despite the tons of evidence. If you are curious about the crime scene photos they can be found here ...

See More Elizabeth Short (1924 - 1947) - Genealogy Elizabeth Short Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos in Los Angeles, CA, USA Cause of death: homicide: Hemorrhage + Shock, Concussion of the brain and lacerations of the face Immediate Family: July 29 1924 - Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States Death: Jan 14 1947 - Los Angeles, California, United States Parents: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe M Short (born Sawyer) Siblings: Circa 1925 - Massachusetts, United States Residence: 1930 - Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA Parents: Cleo A Short, Phoebe M Short Siblings: Jan 14 1947 - Los Angeles, California, USA Father's last name: July 29 1924 - Boston, Suffolk County, MA, USA Death: Jan 1947 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA, USA Parents: Cleo A. Short, Phoebe M.

Short (born Sawyer) Siblings: July 29 1924 - Hyde Park, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA Death: Jan 14 1947 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Parents: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe May Short (born Sawyer) Sister: July 29 1924 - Hyde Park, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA Death: Jan 14 1947 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Parents: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe May Short (born Sawyer) Sister: Cleo Short, Phobe Short (born Sawyer) Siblings: July 29 1924 - Hyde Park, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA Death: Jan 14 1947 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Parents: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe May Short (born Sawyer) Sister: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe May Short (née Sawyer) Siblings: Cleo Short, Phobe Short (born Sawyer) Siblings: July 29 1924 - Hyde Park, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Death: Jan 15 1947

 - Los Angeles County, California Parents: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe May Short (born Sawyer) Siblings: July 29 1924 - Hyde Park, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA Death: Jan 14 1947 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Parents: Cleo Alvin Short, Phoebe May Short (born Sawyer) Sister: sister About Elizabeth Short "She was a very affectionate, sweet girl and if she was out at night she always stopped in my bedroom to talk.

And she would talk and talk and tell everything that she had done and everything." ~Phoebe Short (Mother) From Wikipedia (English) : "The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – c. January 15, 1947), an American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Short acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly lurid. Short was found mutilated, her body sliced in half at the waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Short's unsolved murder has been the source of widespread speculation, leading to many suspects, along with several books and film adaptations of the story. Short's murder is one of the oldest unsolved murder cases in Los Angeles history. Early Life Elizabeth Short was born in Boston; she grew up and lived in the suburb of Medford, Massachusetts. She was the third of five daughters of Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer.

Her father built miniature golf courses until the 1929 stock market crash, in which he lost much of the family's assets. In 1930, he parked his car on a bridge and vanished,[5] leading some to believe he had committed suicide. Short's mother moved the family to a small apartment in Medford and found work as a bookkeeper. It was not until later that Short would discover her father was alive and living in California. Troubled by asthma and bronchitis, Short was sent to live for the winter in Miami at the age of 16. She spent the next three years living there during the cold months and in Medford the remainder of the year. At age 19, Short travelled to Vallejo, California, to live with her father, who was working nearby at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on San Francisco Bay. They moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, but an altercation resulted in her leaving there and finding work in the post exchange at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc, California. Short next moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943, for underage drinking.

Following her arrest, she was sent back to Medford by the juvenile authorities in Santa Barbara. Short then returned to Florida to live, with occasional visits to Massachusetts. In Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon, Jr., a decorated United States Army Air Force officer who was assigned to the 2nd Air Commando Group and in training for deployment to China Burma India Theater of Operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote her a letter from India proposing marriage while he was recovering from injuries sustained from an airplane crash. She accepted his proposal, but Gordon died in a second airplane crash on August 10, 1945, before he could return to the United States. Elizabeth Short returned to Los Angeles in July 1946 to visit Army Air Force Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, an old boyfriend she had met in Florida during the war. At the time Short returned to Los Angeles, Fickling was stationed at NARB, Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, Short remained in southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area.

Summary/Reviews: Black Dahlia & White Rose Add to Book Bag Black Dahlia & White Rose stories / From the title story, which maps the friendship between two beautiful and mysteriously doomed young women in 1940s Los Angeles - Elizabeth Short, known as the 'Black Dahlia,' victim of a long-unsolved and particularly brutal murder, and her roommate Norma Jeane Baker, soon to become Marilyn... Full description Main Author: Elizabeth Short | Deranged LA Crimes ® Deranged LA Crimes ® True 20th Century tales of murder, mayhem, political corruption, and celebrity scandal Search 6 Aggie at a crime scene in the 1940s. Aggie Underwood was born on December 17, 1902 and Deranged L.A. Crimes was born on December 17, 2016, so there’s a lot to celebrate today. We have so many candles on our birthday cake it will take a gale force wind to blow them all out. It was Aggie’s career as a Los Angeles journalist that inspired me to begin this blog. She began her career as a temporary switchboard operator at the Daily Record in late 1926..

In her 1949 autobiography, Newspaperwoman, she described the Record’s newsroom as a “weird wonderland” and promptly fell in love with the newspaper business. It didn’t take her long to realize that she wanted to be a reporter and she pursued her goal with passion and commitment. During a time when most female journalists were assigned to report on women’s club activities and other social events, Aggie covered most, if not all, of the most important crime stories of the day. She attended Thelma Todd’s autopsy in December 1935 and was the only Los Angeles reporter to score a byline in the Black Dahlia case in January 1947. Like Aggie, I’ve become obsessed with the villains and victims in Los Angeles. The stories touch me as often as they frighten and repulse me. I want to understand why people do the things they do, and sometimes I feel like I get close. I don’t expect to ever completely answer that question–but the quest is a rewarding one. Whether you are new to the blog or have been following Deranged L.A. Crimes for a while, I want to thank you sincerely for your readership.

There will be many more stories in 2017 and a few appearances too. I will keep you posted. Joan 2 Joseph Du Mais was one of the many false confessors to the January 15, 1947 slaying of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. He had figured prominently in the mystery surrounding Short’s murder and his photo appeared on the front page of the Herald in early 1947. The former Army combat veteran and M.P. had offered military investigators a rambling 50 page statement in which he declared that he had dated Beth on January 9 or 10 in 1947 and then blacked out for several days. He said that it was during this black out that he believed he had murdered Elizabeth Short. There were serious problems with Joseph’s statement. Soldiers who knew him reported seeing him at Fort Dix in New Jersey on January 10, 11, 12 and 17 of 1947 which, unless the military man could bi-locate, would have made it impossible for him either to have dated, or to have killed, the Black Dahlia.

Joseph’s headline news days were over quickly, but he popped up again in September 1948 in a brief article buried in the back pages of the L.A Times when he was busted in Evanston, Illinois for car theft. He told the cops that he was held for 83 days in Army detention at Ft. Dix in connection with the slaying of his wife, Elizabeth Short. He said that he knew her as Eunice Fortune. The cops in Evanston didn’t buy Joseph’s story and it was a simple matter for them to contact LAPD and verify their hunch that Joseph was spinning a yarn. His confession to the gruesome murder had been disproved by LAPD and his claim that he had married Beth in 1937 was completely absurd. In 1937 Beth Short was a twelve year old school girl. LAPD detectives were exasperated by the lack of viable leads in the murder of Elizabeth Short; and they were especially frustrated by the parade of false confessors who sent them down blind alleys – wasting their time and resources. AFTERWORD: In the nearly 70 years since the murder there have been many false confessors and leads that haven’t panned out.

The vacuum has been filled with books written by a handful of people who claim that they are related to the killer. Other books have posited conspiracy theories that beggar belief. In my opinion all of the books written to date are as believable as Joseph Du Mais’ claims. I don’t know if we’ll ever learn the identity of Beth’s killer–but we can always hope. Reply A couple of weeks following the one year anniversary of the slaying of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, LAPD detectives were still working hard to solve the case that would eventually become L.A.’s most infamous unsolved homicide. Cops thought maybe they’d finally caught a break in the case when twenty-three year old Charles E. Lynch telephoned the homicide squad asking that they come and arrest him for Short’s slaying. Lynch was arrested and brought to Central Jail for interrogation. The young transient was questioned at length by Detective Lieutenants Harry Hansen and Finis A. Brown. They had been assigned to the case since January 15, 1947 when Short’s body was found in a Leimert Park vacant lot. Dr. J.

Paul De River, police psychiatrist, accompanied Hansen and Brown to ovserve the questioning of the new suspect. The seasoned detectives and the shrink quickly concluded that Lynch was lying to them. When he was challenged on the details of his confession Lynch promptly repudiated it. Of course the detectives wanted to know what had motivated Lynch to confess to the gruesome murder in the first place, and that’s when he told them that the idea came to him after he read a newspaper “one year anniversary” account of the crime. The newspaper account of the Black Dahlia case may have initially motivated Lynch to confess, but his real inspiration came from a Benzedrine inhaler. He told Hansen, Brown and De River that he bought an inhaler, tore off the wrapper, ate the contents and washed them down with a glass of water — it was then, Lynch said, that he decided to confess. Another frustrating dead end. Reply U.S. Army Corporal Joseph Dumais [Photo courtesy of LAPL] On February 8, 1947 the Herald-Express announced that the Black Dahlia case had been solved. They had found the killer!

The Herald-Express story began: “Army Corporal Joseph Dumais, 29, of Fort Dix, N.J., is definitely the murdered of “The Black Dahlia”, army authorities at Fort Dix announced today.’ Dumais, a combat veteran, had returned from leave wearing blood stained trousers with his pockets crammed full of clippings about Short’s murder. According to the Herald, Dumais made a 50 page confession in which he claimed to have had a mental blackout after dating Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles five days before her body was found. The good looking corporal seemed like the real deal. He told the cops that “When I get drunk I get pretty rough with women.” Unfortunately, when police checked his story against known facts the solider’s confession didn’t hold up. Dumais was sent to a psychiatrist. Two days after Dumais’ false confession the Herald put out an Extra with the headline: “Werewolf Strikes Again! Kills L.A. Woman, Writes B.D. on Body”. The victim of the “Werewolf Killer” was forty-five year old Jeanne French. Her nude body had been discovered at about 8 a.m.

on February 10, 1947 near Grand View Avenue and Indianapolis Street in West L.A. Cops at the scene of Jeanne French’s murder. [Photo courtesy LAPL] Jeanne Thomas French had lived an incredibly fascinating life. She had been an aviatrix, a pioneer airline hostess, a movie bit player and an Army Nurse. And at one time she had been the wife of a Texas oilman. The way she died was monstrous. A construction worker H.C. Shelby was walking to work around 8 o’clock that morning along Grand View Blvd. when he saw a small pile of woman’s clothing in weeds a few feet from the sidewalk. Curious, Shelby walked over and lifted up a fur trimmed coat and discovered French’s nude body. French had been savagely beaten, and her body was covered with bruises. She had suffered some blows to her head, probably administered by a metal blunt instrument — maybe a socket wrench. As bad as they were, the blows to her head had not been fatal. Jeanne died from hemorrhage and shock due to fractured ribs and multiple injuries caused by stomping — she had heel prints on her chest. It took a long time for French to die.

The coroner said that she slowly bled to death. Mercifully, Jeanne was unconscious after the first blows to her head so she never saw her killer take the deep red lipstick from her purse, and she didn’t feel the pressure of his improvised pen as he wrote on her torso: “Fuck You, B.D.” (later thought to be be “P.D.”–but was it?) and “Tex”. French had last been seen in the Pan American Bar at 11155 West Washington Place . She was seated at the first stool nearest the entrance and the bartender later told cops that a smallish man with a dark complexion was seated next to her. The bartender assumed they were a couple because he saw them leave together at closing time. Jeanne’s estranged husband, Frank, was booked on suspicion of murder. The night before she died Jeanne had gone to the apartment where Frank was living and they’d quarreled. Frank said that his wife had started the fight, then hit him with her purse and left. He said that was the last time he saw her. He told the cops she’d been drinking. David Wrather, Jeanne’s twenty-five year old son from a previous marriage was also brought in for questioning.

As he was leaving the police station he saw his step-father for the first time since he’d learned of his mother’s death. David confronted Frank and said: “Well, I’ve told them the truth. If you’re guilty, there’s a God in heaven who will take care of you.” Frank didn’t hesitate, he looked at David and said: “I swear to God I didn’t kill her.” Frank was cleared when his landlady testified that he’d been in his apartment at the time of the murder, and when his shoe prints didn’t match those found at the scene of the crime. Cops followed the few leads they had. French’s cut-down 1929 Ford roadster was found in the parking lot of a drive-in restaurant, The Piccadilly at Washington Pl. and Sepulveda Blvd. Witnesses said that the car had been there since 3:15 the morning of the murder, and a night watchman said it was left there by a man. The police were never able to find out where Jeanne had been between 3:15 a.m. and the time of her death which was estimated at 6 a.m.

Scores of sex degenerates were rousted, but each was eliminated as a suspect. Officers also checked out local Chinese restaurants after the autopsy revealed that French had eaten Chinese food shortly before her death. French’s slaying, known as the “Red Lipstick Murder” case, went cold. Three years later, following a Grand Jury investigation into the numerous unsolved murders of women in L.A., investigators from the D.A.’s office were assigned to look into the case. Frank Jemison and Walter Morgan worked the French case for almost eight months, but they were never able to close it. They came up with one hot suspect, a painter who had painted the French’s house about four months prior to her death. He even dated her several times. The suspicious thing about the painter was that the day after Jeanne’s murder he had burned several pairs of his shoes. Also he wore almost the same size shoes as the ones that had left marks on French’s body. Jemison and Morgan thoroughly investigated the painter, but he was eventually cleared. There were so many unsolved murders of women in the 1940s that in 1949 a Grand Jury investigation was launched into the failure of the police to resolve the cases.

There haven’t been any leads in Jeanne French’s case in decades; however, there is always a detective assigned to Elizabeth Short’s murder case. A couple of years ago it was a female detective and, surprisingly, she received several calls a month. To this day there are people who want to confess to the Black Dahlia murder. The detective was able to eliminate each one of the possible suspects with a simple question: “What is the date of your birth?” Sketch of Jane Doe #1 prior to her ID as Elizabeth Short. Max Handler with Det. Ed Barrett (in hat and glasses). [Photo courtesy LAPL] Dozens of men had been interviewed as possible suspects in the murder of Elizabeth Short. None of the interviews had panned out. A seemingly endless stream of false confessors appeared at various police stations around town; guys like Max Handler, a film bit player, who was the 25th man to claim he had murdered the Black Dahlia. During a lie detector test he admitted that his confession was false and that he “wanted to get away from a gang of men who have been following me constantly”. In the photo he looks to have been on a lobotomizing bender. Daniel S.

Voorhies, a 33 year old army vet, also confessed to killing Short. He said that he’d had an affair with her in L.A. — the problem with his story was that at the time he claimed that he and Short were having a torrid affair, Beth was a very young teenager living on the east coast. The local landscape was littered with crumpled up false confessions given by every sad drunk and deranged publicity seeker — and most of the confessors were men; but not all of them. False confessor, Minnie Sepulveda. [Photo courtesy of LAPL] A gal named Minnie Sepulveda stepped up and said that she had killed the Black Dahlia. She hadn’t. Mrs. Marie Grieme said that she had heard a Chicago woman confess to the Black Dahlia’ murder. Her story didn’t lead anywhere. Even though none of the women who had confessed had been guilty, the cops were beginning to think that it wasn’t out of the question that Short’s slayer had been a woman. After all, L.A. had had its share of female killers.

The Herald-Express ran side-by-side photos of three infamous homicidal women who had been busted in L.A., Louise Peete (one of only four women ever to have been executed by the State of California) was a serial killer. She’d been busted for murder in the 1920s, did eighteen years, and following her release from prison committed yet another murder for which she paid with her life. Winnie Ruth Judd committed two murders in Arizona. She was busted in L.A. when a trunk containing the dismembered remains of Hedvig Samuelson and Anne Le Roi began to get a little ripe and leak bodily fluids in the baggage claim section of a local train station. Winnie Ruth Judd’s trunks. [Photo courtesy LAPL] In 1922, Clara Phillips (aka “Tiger Girl”) murdered Alberta Meadows, the woman she suspected was a rival for her husband’s affections. She struck Meadows repeatedly with a hammer and, for the coup de gras, she rolled a 50 lb. boulder on top of the corpse. Body of Alberta Meadows — victim of Clara Phillips’ wrath.

[Photo courtesy of UCLA] So, the notion that a woman could be Short’s killer wasn’t far-fetched at all. The Herald-Express had featured a series of columns written by psychologist Alice La Vere. La Vere had previously profiled Short’s killer as a young man without a criminal record, but she was very open to the idea of a female killer. She abruptly shifted gears from identifying a young man as the slayer to “…a sinister Lucrezia Borgia — a butcher woman whose crime dwarfs any in the modern crime annals — are shadowed over the mutilated body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short.” Obviously La Vere was an expert for hire, and if the Herald-Express editors had asked her to write a convincing profile of the killer as a mutant alien from Mars, she’d likely have done it. Still, she made some compelling comments in her column for the newspaper. “Murders leave behind them a trail of fingerprints, bits of skin and hair. The slayer of “The Black Dahlia” left the most tell-tale clue of all–the murder pattern of a degenerate, vicious feminine mind.” Even more interesting was La Vere’s exhortation to the cops to look for an older woman.

She said: “Police investigators should look for a woman older than ‘The Black Dahlia’. This woman who either inspired the crime or actually committed the ghastly, unspeakable, outrage, need not be a woman of great strength. Extreme emotion or high mental tension in men and women give great, superhuman strength.” If you compare Alice La Vere’s profile of the possible killer to a profile created by John E. Douglas , who is retired from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) — La Vere’s sixty-nine year old profile holds up rather well. What I find interesting about La Vere’s profile of a female perpetrator is that she said that the woman would be older than Short. In recent years an older woman did become an integral part of a theory about the crime. It is a theory put forward by researcher, Larry Harnisch . Larry wrote an article for the Los Angeles Times on the fiftieth anniversary of Short’s death. Subsequently, he has done a lot more digging into the case and has unearthed an important connection between the body dump site near 39th and Norton, and two medical doctors.

One of the doctors, Walter Alonzo Bayley, had lived in a house just one block south of the place where Elizabeth Short’s body had been discovered. At the time of the murder he was estranged from his wife who still occupied the home. Bayley had left his wife for his mistress, Alexandra Partyka, also a medical doctor. Partyka had emigrated to the U.S. and wasn’t licensed to practice medicine, but she did assist Bayley in his practice. Following Bayley’s death in January 1948, Partyka and Dr. Bayley’s wife, Ruth, fought over control of his estate. Mrs. Bayley claimed that Partyka had been blackmailing the late doctor with secrets about his medical practice that could have ruined him. There is also a link between Bayley’s family and Short’s. In 1945 one of Dr. Bayley’s adopted daughters, Barbara Lindgren, was a witness to the marriage of Beth’s sister, Virginia Short, to Adrian West at a church in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles. Larry discussed Dr. Bayley in James Ellroy’s 2001 “Feast of Death”.

[Note: Be forewarned that there are photos of Elizabeth Short in the morgue.] It is clear that a woman could have murdered Elizabeth Short; but could the woman have been Dr. Bayley’s mistress, Alexandra Partyka? The chances are that we’ll never know–or at least not until Larry Harnisch finishes his book on the case. Perhaps in time for the 70th anniversary? I hope so. NEXT TIME: Another confession, and another murder. Reply On January 17, 1947 only two days after Jane Doe #1 had been found butchered in a vacant lot, she was identified as twenty-two year old Elizabeth Short of Medford, MA. Short’s mother, Phoebe, had been cruelly tricked by the Herald-Express into believing that her much loved daughter had won a beauty contest, only to be told minutes later than Elizabeth had been murdered. Phoebe told reporters: “I’ll do everything possible to see that the fiend is caught. He can’t be human.” She immediately hopped on the next plane for Los Angeles. From left to right is Adrian West, Short’s brother-in-law; Mrs. Phoebe Short, mother; and Mrs.

Virginia West, Short’s sister and Adrian’s wife. [Photo courtesy of LAPL.] Murder victims lose their right to privacy; all of their secrets are revealed, and in an effort to fill column space while multiple leads were being tracked, the Herald looked to psychiatrists, Beth’s acquaintances, and even mystery writers, to speculate on the case, which they did with creative abandon. The psychiatrist whose expert opinion was sought by the Herald was Dr. Paul De River, LAPD’s very own shrink. He wrote a series of articles for the paper in which he attempted to analyze the mind of the killer. DeRiver wrote that the killer was a sadist and suggested that: “during the killing episode, he had an opportunity to pump up affect from two sources — from his own sense of power and in overcoming the resistance of another. He was the master and the victim was the slave”. In one of his most chilling statements, De River hinted at necrophilia — he said: “It must also be remembered that sadists of this type have a super-abundance of curiosity and are liable to spend much time with their victims after the spark of life has flickered and died”. Dr.

De River People who had only a fleeting acquaintance with Elizabeth Short were interviewed and they weighed in on everything from her hopes and dreams to her love life. Beth was, by turns, described as “a man-crazy delinquent”, and a girl with “childlike charm and beauty”. Many people who claimed to be close to her said that she aspired to Hollywood stardom. The interviews yielded nothing of value in the hunt for Beth’s killer. While the experts opined, Aggie was busy canvassing Southern California for leads. Underwood had been with the Herald-Express for twelve years when the Black Dahlia case broke wide open. In her 1949 autobiography, Newspaperwoman, she said that she came across Elizabeth’s nickname when she was checking in with Ray Giese, an LAPD homicide detective-lieutenant. According to Aggie, Giese said: “This is something you might like, Agness. I’ve found out they called her the ‘Black Dahlia’ around that drug store where she hung out down in Long Beach.” A few days passed and the mystery man known only as Red, was located. He was Robert M. “Red” Manley, a twenty-five year old married salesman.

Early on the morning of January 20, 1947, Aggie interviewed Manley. The first thing she said to him was: “You look as if you’ve been on a drunk.” Manley replied: “This is worse than any I’ve ever been on.” Red Manley being frisked prior to being held for questioning in the Black Dahlia case. [Photo is courtesy of LAPL.] Aggie proceeded to tell him that he was in one hell of a spot, and advised him to come clean. Harry S. Fremont, an LAPD homicide detective looked over at Manley and said: “She’s right, I’ve known this lady for a long time, on lots of big cases, and I can tell you she won’t do you wrong.” Manley began to tell his story, and Aggie was smart enough not to interrupt him. He told of having picked Beth up on a street corner in San Diego early in December. And he also revealed that the night he’d spent with Beth in a roadside motel had been strictly platonic.

He concluded with: “I’ll never pick up another dame as long as I live.” The story ran in the Herald with the headline: ‘Red’ Tells Own Story of Romance With ‘Dahlia’, and Aggie got the byline. The morning following her interview with Red Manley, Aggie was unceremoniously yanked off of the case. She said that she was in the midst of reporting on the Dahlia when: “…the city editor benched me and let me sit in the local room without a blessed thing to do.” The no-assignment routine resumed the next day as well. Aggie said that she sat for about three hours then started on an embroidery project! Anyone who came into the city room that day and saw Aggie with her embroidery hoop just roared with laughter. She kept it up until quitting time. Day three — Aggie was prepared to do more embroidery when she was told by the assistant city editor that an overnight decision had been made — Aggie was to go back to LAPD homicide and continue her work on the Black Dahlia case. Red Manley reunited with his wife. He had some explaining to do!

[Photo is courtesy of LAPL.] Aggie barely had time to pull out her notebook before she was pulled off the case again! This time it was for good. An announcement was made that Aggie’s new assignment would be the city desk. She was flabbergasted. She had just become the one of the first women in the United States to hold a city editorship on a major metropolitan daily! Why had Aggie been removed from the Black Dahlia case? There are those who believe that there was a cover-up and that Aggie was getting too close to a solution to Short’s murder, so someone with enough juice had her promoted to keep her out of the way. That doesn’t make sense to me, as city editor she’d have been directing the activities of all the reporters working the case, and she wasn’t the sort of person who could have been bought. Nevertheless, the timing of Aggie’s promotion remains an intriguing part of the Black Dahlia case. Reply Elizabeth Short’s murder dominated the front pages of the Evening Herald & Express for days. But even in a murder case as sensational as that of the Black Dahlia the more time that elapses following the discovery of a crime, the fewer clues there are on which to report.

The fact that the case was going cold didn’t dampen the Herald’s enthusiasm for reporting on it. As I mentioned on Thursday, the paper sought out psychiatrists psychologists, and mystery writers who would attempt, each in his/her own way, to analyze the case — and fill column space in the paper. Decades before the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) was founded the shrinks and writers whose work appeared in the Herald-Express were engaging in speculative profiles of both the victim and her killer. One of the psychologists tapped by the Herald to contribute her analysis of the victim and slayer was Alice La Vere. La Vere was introduced as “…one of the nation’s most noted consulting psychologists”. According to the newspaper, Miss La Vere would give to readers: “an analysis of the motives which led to the torture murder of beautiful 22-year-old Elizabeth Short”. La Vere’s analysis seems surprisingly contemporary. Here is an excerpt from her profile of Short’s personality: “Some gnawing feeling of inadequacy was eating at the mind of this girl.

She needed constant proof to herself that she was important to someone and demonstrates this need by the number of suitors and admirers with which she surrounded herself.” La Vere went on to describe the killer: “It is very likely that this is the first time this boy has committed any crime. It is also likely that he may be a maladjusted veteran. The lack of social responsibility experienced by soldiers, their conversational obsession with sex, their nerves keyed to battle pitch — these factors are crime-breeding.” She further stated: “Repression of the sex impulse accompanied by environmental maladjustment is the slayer’s probable background.” How does La Vere’s profile of Elizabeth Short and her killer compare to a an analysis by retired FBI profiler John Douglas? Douglas suggested that Beth was “needy” and that her killer would have “spotted her a mile away”. He said that the killer “would have been a lust killer and loved hurting people.” On the salient points, I’d say that La Vere and Douglas were of like minds regarding Elizabeth Short and her killer — wouldn’t you?

At the time of Elizabeth Short’s murder, mystery writer Craig Rice (pseudonym of Georgiana Ann Randolph Walker Craig) was one of the most popular crime writers in the country. In its January 28, 1946 issue, Time Magazine selected Rice for a cover feature on the mystery genre. Sadly, Rice has been forgotten by all except the most avid mystery geeks (like me). Craig Rice was invited by the Herald-Express to give her take on the Black Dahlia case in late January 1947. Rice described Elizabeth Short in this way: “A black dahlia is what expert gardeners call ‘an impossibility’ of nature. Perhaps that is why lovely, tragic Elizabeth Short was tortured, murdered and mutilated Because such a crime could happen only in the half-world in which she lived. A world of–shadows.” NEXT TIME: Aggie Gets Benched Reply Sixty-nine years ago today Elizabeth Short walked out of the Biltmore Hotel and headed south. She may have stopped in at the Crown Grill–a few of the patrons recalled seeing her there on the evening of January 9th.

Whether Beth vanished immediately after exiting the lobby of the Biltmore, or whether she made it to the Crown Grill or even as far as Hollywood hardly matters. What’s important is that there are no verifiable sightings of her until her body was discovered by a Leimert Park housewife, Betty Bersinger, on January 15th. Short had been cruelly murdered and then her killer had mutilated her remains. There are more questions than answers in the unsolved murder. Who? Where? Why? All we know for sure is that she died about ten hours before she was found, her body was obscenely posed and meant to be found. Photo is from the L.A. Police Museum’s 2012 Black Dahlia exhibit. Reply Sixty-nine years ago, on January 8, 1947, Robert “Red” Manley drove to the home of Elvera and Dorothy French in Pacific Beach, in the San Diego area , to pick up a young woman he’d met a month earlier. Her name was Elizabeth Short. Robert “Red” Manley [LAPL Photo] Manley was a twenty-five year old salesman with a wife and baby at home.

The Manley’s had been married for fifteen months and lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Red would later tell investigators that he and his wife had had “some misunderstandings” so he decided that he should “make a little test to see if I were still in love with my wife.” The woman Manley used to test his love for his wife was twenty-two year old Elizabeth Short. Elizabeth (who often called herself Betty or Beth) had asked Red to drive her back to L.A. – she told him that she didn’t like San Diego. Red agreed to help her out – it was the final part of his love test. Beth and Red weren’t on the road for too long before they stopped at a roadside motel for the night. They went out for dinner and drinks before returning to their room to go to bed. According to Red his night with Beth had been strictly platonic – he took the bed and she slept in a chair. The pair left the motel at about 12:20 p.m. on January 9, 1947 for Los Angeles. Beth had one week to live.

Next time: The Black Dahlia: Part Two — January 9, 1947 4 On January 15, 1947 the body of twenty-two year old Elizabeth Short was discovered in a Leimert Park vacant lot. There were scant clues in the case and LAPD homicide detectives Finis Brown and Harry Hansen were hoping for a break. Ten days later some of Short’s belongings were found in a trash dump at 1819 E. 25th Street. Among the items found were a black patent leather purse, one black shoe, and a brown leather address book which contained more than 75 names. The “little brown book” book had the name Mark M. Hansen (no relation to Harry) stamped on the cover. Hansen, an attorney and night club owner, was a self-made man. He was a Danish immigrant, who had arrived in the U.S. in 1910 and who, by the 1930 census, was a theater proprietor. By the late 1940s he was part-owner of the Florentine Gardens, a popular Hollywood night spot, and had business interests in several movie theaters.

Detectives grilled Hansen about his relationship with Beth Short, particularly how she came to have the leather address book. Hansen’s explanation was that Beth Short must have taken it from his desk sometime during November 1946. Beth had access to his desk because she was one of several young women who had rented rooms in Hansen’s home at 6024 Carlos Avenue (located behind the Florentine Gardens). Photo courtesy of LAPL Among the women who had lived at the Carlos Avenue address was Ann Toth, a bit player in the movies. Toth was an acquaintance of Short’s and like everyone else who had known the dead girl she had been questioned by the police. There wasn’t much Toth could tell investigators about Beth who, like so many other young women in post-war L.A., had no fixed address. Photo of Ann Toth from Detectives dug deep into Hansen’s story and determined that he was telling the truth about the last time he’s seen Beth. No one, particularly a successful businessman, was looking for the kind of publicity that attends a horrific murder like Beth’s. Hansen must have breathed a sigh of relief when he was cleared of any involvement in the crime.

For the next couple of years the club owner, described by the L.A. Times as a “man-about-town”, continued to run the Florentine Gardens and bed chorus girls. He was a married man but he and his wife, Ida, had been estranged for about two decades. For most of 1948 and into 1949, Hansen had been routinely pestered for a job by a blonde dime-a-dance cutie from Oakland, Lola Titus. Lola’s real name was Beverly Alice Bennett, and she had been working as a stripper and taxi dancer in Oakland when she got the notion to hop on a bus for L.A. to hook-up with Mark Hansen. Lola’s sudden decision to leave Northern California was precipitated by an argument she’d had with her mother. Her mom strenuously objected to her daughter’s lifestyle. Lola would later tell investigators: “I made up my mind that he (Hansen) was either going to love me, marry me or take care of me or I was going to kill him.” Lola had another reason for traveling to L.A.–she believed that Hansen was behind rumors that she had killed the Black Dahlia.

The rumors were all in Lola’s head because her name had never been mentioned in connection with the case. Lola boarded a bus from San Francisco to Hollywood on Thursday, July 14, 1949. She’d packed the essentials: nude photos of herself and the .25 automatic she’d purchased several months before in an Oakland pawnshop. On Friday morning she turned up on Hansen’s doorstep with the gun in her pocket and her nude photos tucked under her arm. She knocked on the door of the bungalow and while she waited she debated whether to shoot him as soon as he opened the door or to wait until she got inside. She opted to wait. Once Hansen had invited her in, Lola showed him the nude photos of herself. Hansen decided to compare the photos to the real girl, and he “auditioned” the blonde dancer in the back bedroom. Following the audition Hansen went into the bathroom and began to shave with his electric razor. Lola figured it was as good a time as any to shoot him. She went into the front room where she’d left her coat, pulled the gun out of the pocket and went to the bathroom where she shot him once. The wound was a through and through.

The bullet missed Hansen’s heart by 7/10 of an inch and lodged in the bathroom wall. Lola then pulled on her clothes and left. Although he was severely wounded Hansen managed to get to the telephone. He phoned a business associate who called for a doctor. As he was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance Hansen said that before Lola pulled the trigger she had called him a “goddam cop lover”. NEXT TIME: Lola calls the cops.

Question: American 1940’s murder victim Elizabeth Short was known by what posthumous nickname?
Answer: The Black Dahlia